


At Any Cost

by TrishaCollins



Category: Pirates of the Caribbean (Movies)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-05
Updated: 2017-06-05
Packaged: 2018-11-09 14:31:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 686
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11106519
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TrishaCollins/pseuds/TrishaCollins
Summary: Missing Scene, everyone on the boat knew who Henry was and what that meant. Gibbs takes a moment to speak to him.





	At Any Cost

Free of the ropes and once more on the deck, he found the crew was avoiding him.

Mister Gibbs had been willing enough to take his coin, but now that they were on the sea they seemed intent on ignoring his existence unless he was needed.

Quite frustrating, but pirates seemed more willing to acknowledge what was out in the waters than royal navy-men.

It was his luck, he supposed. There was every chance these men had met his father. Mister Gibbs he was sure had, his mother had spoken of him on the occasion she was willing to speak of Jack Sparrow at all.

It was underwhelming, really. The stories he had heard, his parents' reticence to discuss the man at all.

He had expected something more. Had hoped for something more.

Perhaps he had been something more? He tried to take comfort in that thought. It had been nearly twenty years since his father had taken the wheel of the Dutchman in his hand, his mother had been marked by the loss, why not Jack?

"What are you doing there, Henry?" Mister Gibbs asked, crouching down to peer at his papers.

"Marking the chart, and writing a letter to my mother." He answered easily enough. "I try to keep her apprised of where I am. She was quite cross with me."

"Like as not still is, Elizabeth has a furious temper when roused. You're bold to risk it." Mister Gibbs responded with a brief smile.

"You knew her well?" He asked, surprised.

"Oh, ay. Since she was a girl no taller than my knee. Knew your father too, when he was a boy. Met him again when he was a man. Knew your grandfather, even. You favor him."

He blinked, hand lifting to touch his face. "All of them?"

Mister Gibbs gave a fond nod. "Ay. I did." He looked far away for a moment, lips turning down in a frown. "You think the lass can lead you to a way to break what holds your father."

"Yes." He answered.

"Be careful there, Lad. There's a line between anything and everything you'd do well to mind. Your father didn't, and that's what got us to where we are."

He shook his head. "I don't understand."

Gibbs sighed, scrubbing at his face with his hand. "Your grandfather was cursed, you know that?"

"Twice cursed. Once with Barbarossa, and when the curse broke he died on the sea floor and Davy Jones took him." His lips twitched a bit. "He prefers to speak of the former."

Gibbs looked briefly surprised, then laughed. "He would, the old fool. A good man, if ever there was a pirate that was one. Your father too, a good man." Gibbs looked at him. "A son will often declare to do anything to free their father, I've seen it before. Seen many a good lad die trying, or find themselves caught in the same trap. Anything is all well and good, but if you give everything then you'll have nothing."

He shook his head a little bit. "Father must be freed."

"And the Dutchman must have a Captain, or else these seas will soon be choked with the souls of the damned. There's consequences to this quest, like them or not."

He bit his lip, looking down at the few short lines he had managed of his letter.

Mister Gibbs patted his shoulder, gave it a brief squeeze, and walked back to the aft of the ship.

He watched him go, lip between his teeth, sucking on it reflexively.

His father must be freed. Must be. Whatever came after, they would face together.

But his father must be freed.

A drop of water hit the page, blurring one of the careful words he had used to describe his rescue of Carina, and her rescue of him. He shut the book quickly to protect the paper, bringing his hand up to his forehead and rubbing it hard.

Father must be freed. He had promised. A man was only as good as the promises he kept.

He would do anything to save him.


End file.
